1. Co-facilitators release third draft of the political declaration and annexes

The third revision of the political declaration and annexes for the 19 September High-level Summit for Refugees and Migrants was released on 28 July, by the Permanent Missions of Ireland and Jordan, the co-facilitators of the Summit process. Read the new drafts of the political declaration, annex I andannex II.

According to a new proposal by the co-facilitators, pending approval by the Member States the political declaration of the 19 September Summit would be adopted with two annexes, one on refugees and one on migration, in order “to avoid any appearance of privileging one Global Compact over the other”. The draft annex on refugees is entitled “Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework” (CRRF), and is proposed to be further refined into a Global Compact on Refugees by 2018. The annex on migration sets out a roadmap for the elaboration and adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Regular and Orderly Migration. It is proposed that both compacts are to be adopted in 2018.

2. Final round of government negotiations

In intensive and rushed negotiations taking place throughout the last weeks, Member States have been working towards finding consensus on the political declaration and annexes. Negotiations are proposed to be concluded today 29 July. On this UN website you can find some of the submitted statements from (groups of) Member States from previous negotiations as well as statements from other stakeholders, including civil society.

Many civil society organizations have been working closely to advocate key messages to Member States for the outcome documents. Organizations on the self-organised civil society Action Committee have been putting out consolidated feedback on the drafts of the political declaration and annexes, including priorities and red-lines on the latest draft. Civil society has also provided suggestions for the drafts of the political declaration and annexes at the regular civil-society consultations with the co-facilitators. The latest civil society consultation of 28 July can be viewed here.

3. Civil society calls upon world leaders not to fall short on solutions for refugees, migrants and societies

On 28 July a group of non-government organizations released a joint statement expressing their concern over how the Outcome document is being shaped, and suggesting that the opportunity presented by the Summit to help the millions of refugees and migrants in need is in danger of slipping away. The organisations urgently call on governments to “act now, this week, to agree an outcome document worthy of this cause”, arguing that an outcome that does no more than repeat existing commitments will be a failure rather than a success. Read the full statement here.

The President of the UN General Assembly has published a summary of the Informal Interactive Multi-stakeholder Hearing that took place on 18 July in support of the preparatory process towards the Summit for refugees and migrants on 19 September 2016. The summary has been shared with all Member States of the UN. The hearing brought together close to 300 representatives from civil society and other stakeholders from every region of the world who work on various issues relating to refugees, migrants, human rights and development.
The summary report can be read here
The two-part recording of the Hearing can be viewed here

5. Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) Civil Society Days 2016
The GFMD Civil Society Days 2016 are taking place in Dhaka, Bangladesh in December, only three months after the 19 September Summit on refugees and migrants. As detailed in the Civil Society Days Concept Note, this year’s programme will be strongly linked to the outcomes of the High-level Summit. Civil society delegates are invited to apply online and to spread the word among their networks. The deadline to apply is August 3.

July28 Informal civil society consultation with co-facilitators of the 19 September Summit on the Outcome document and its two annexes.29 Member states consultation to negotiate High-level Summit outcome document, in New York

September19 High Level Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants, UNGA New York19 United Nations Private Sector Forum 201620 Leaders’ Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis (Obama Summit)

December8-12 Civil society days, Common Space and Government days of Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Bangladesh

With solidarity and shared ambition,

Ms. Wies MAAS in New York (maas@icmc.net) and
Ms. Emer GROARKE in Brussels (groarke@icmc.net)
Ms. Melissa PITOTTI in Geneva
Ms. Eva SANDIS in New York

The HLS Civil Society Action Committee is convened by:
ICMC MADE Network
International Council of Voluntary Agencies
NGO Committee on Migration (New York)

New Resources

CoM Response to the SRSG’s Issue Brief #3 in Preparation for the Third Thematic Consultation on the Global Compact on Migration
This statement, drafted by the CoM Subcommittee on Follow-up to the NY Declaration in consultation with the CoM Executive Committee, was contributed to the session on “international cooperation and governance of migration” held in Geneva on 19-20 June 2017.

CoM Response to the SRSG’s Issue Brief #2 in Preparation for the Second Thematic Consultation on the Global Compact on Migration
This statement, drafted by the CoM Subcommittee on Follow-up to the NY Declaration in consultation with the CoM Executive Committee, was contributed to the session on “drivers of migration” held in New York on 22-23 May 2017.

CoM Response to the SRSG’s Issue Brief #1 in Preparation for the First Thematic Consultation on the Global Compact on Migration
This statement, drafted by the CoM Subcommittee on Follow-up to the NY Declaration in consultation with the CoM Executive Committee, was contributed to the session on xenophobia and social inclusion held in Geneva on 8-9 May 2017.

Debunking Myths to End Xenophobia
Infographic prepared by the CoM Subcommittee on Xenophobia and Social Inclusion (March 2017), available in English,Spanish, and French

Climate-Induced Displacement: How our changing climate is displacing millions from their homes and what we can do about itBrochure prepared by the CoM Subcommittee on Climate-Induced Displacement (March 2017)

The Imperative for Complementarity, Coherence, and Consistency in the Follow-up to the New York DeclarationCivil Society proposal prepared with input from ICVA, ICMC and the NGO CoM for a meeting on 2 December 2016 in Geneva with the co-facilitators of the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) to discuss modalities of the GCM negotiations.

ActNow: Civil society response and
scorecard for the UN High-level
Summit “New York Declaration
for Refugees and Migrants”Statement and scorecard drafted in consultation with the 22 members of the self-organized civil society Action Committee, co-convened by the CoM, ICMC and ICVA.

World leaders must step up efforts to conclude robust &
principled deal for refugees and migrantsStatement of Civil Society in preparation for the 19 September High-Level Summit on Refugees and Migrants